Senators' bill would assist with sewer updates

U.S. Sens. George V. Voinovich and Sherrod Brown are teaming up on legislation aimed at helping financially distressed communities make renovations to outdated sewer systems.

The Clean Water Affordability Act of 2009 would include a grant program and urge the Environmental Protection Agency to provide more flexibility to give communities more time to comply with mandates, said the senators, who represent Ohio.

"We think it's time to alleviate the pressure on the cash-strapped communities," Voinovich, a Republican, said Wednesday during a conference call with Brown, a Democrat, and Ohio media members.

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He cited a community like Defiance, a city of 17,000 where 950 automobile jobs recently left. After that happened, it forced the city to double its sewer rates to pay for upgrades because the community's biggest user of resources was gone.

"We cannot expect cities to spend millions of dollars for water infrastructure upgrades without help from the federal government," Voinovich said.

One of the highlights of the legislation is that it contains a five-year, $1.8 billion grant program, he said.

Grants would be available on a 75 percent-25 percent cost share for qualifying cities to use for planning, design and construction of treatment to control combined and sanitary sewer overflows.

Brown said the grants would be distributed by the EPA and allocated to the states, and awarded to communities that are considered to be financially distressed.

Determining who qualifies would likely include financial capability assessments to determine each community's economic situation.

In addition to the legislation, President Barack Obama's proposed budget contains $450 million for upgrades in infrastructure around the Great Lakes, Brown said.

"Really, that's just a down payment on what we need to do," he said.

According to the EPA, communities across the nation face an estimated $50 billion in need for combined sewage overflow system renovations. An EPA study in 2008 showed that across Ohio, there is an immediate need of more than $10 billion for improvements to publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities, the senators said.

Voinovich said more EPA flexibility for financially struggling communities to fix their problems would provide immediate relief for their residents.